26 Metals leadership

Before 26 Metals, Mr. Kotowych held corporate development roles at junior miners, most recently at Abitibi Metals, advancing the B26 Polymetallic Deposit and Beschefer Gold Project. He conducted equity research on mining at Haywood and Red Cloud Securities. Exploration experience includes Great Bear (now Kinross), Carlisle (now Alamos), and Solstice Gold. Holds an MSc in Geophysics and Honours BSc in Math and Geology from the University of Toronto.

Dr. de Sales previously worked as an iron ore geologist with Vale and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. He resides in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. He has been responsible for developing hematite DSO mines in Brazil (1 to 3 Mtpa)², including Ferro Puro, GSM and Corrego do Onca (all within 50 km of Florália).

Mr. Matich was CEO of Aztec Resources (ASX: AZR), which developed the Koolan Island Hematite DSO Project from a flooded open cut to operations (24.9 Mt at 65% Fe)¹; AZR was acquired by Mt Gibson Iron (ASX: MGX) in 2006. As CEO of Cervantes (TSXV: CEV) he advanced the Block 103 prospect. He is currently CEO of Operations for the Sierra Azul Project in Colombia for Freeport.

Dr. Grainger has over 25 years of experience in South America with Newmont, Ivanhoe Electric (Friedland Group), Vale, Inco and Troy Resources. He was involved with Continental Gold's Buriticá project (acquired by Zijin in 2019) and co-founded Collective Mining. He is CEO of Helius Minerals (TSXV: HHH). He resides in Brazil and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

Mr. Saltsman has 25 years of experience in venture capital and public investments and is the founder of First Lithium Minerals Corp., which he founded in 2017. He currently sits on the board of Leveljump Healthcare Corp. and has served as CEO of Compel Capital Inc. and RMM Ventures Inc., and as Vice President of Georgian Capital Corp. He is President and Managing Partner of Paige Capital Inc., a venture capital investment company, and a founding partner of South America Finance Corp SAS, a private merchant banking group in Colombia.